Peshawar, July 31: In a retaliatory action, the Pakistan Army reportedly gunned down at least 25 Taliban militants in the restive Swat valley on Wednesday. Five soldiers, including two Army officers and three soldiers, were “martyred” in the fierce battle, said a military statement issued in Peshawar.

According to the military statement, up to 70 militants attempted to storm a Pakistan Army checkpost in the Ucharai Sar area near Matta tehsil, about 20 km from Mingora. “The attack was successfully repulsed, resulting in the death of 25 miscreants,” the Daily Times quoted the military statement as saying.

The two officials killed in the battle were an Army officer and a junior commissioned officer, said the paper.

Military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas claimed that an important Taliban commander Tor Mullah, who was considered a close associate of Fazlullah, was killed in the fighting. Sources close to Taliban also confirmed the commander’s death.

Another group of about 70 militants tried to seize the market area of Matta, Abbas said and added that they fled when reinforcements arrived at the town’s police station.

“The situation in Swat is that curfew has been imposed and security forces have been given orders to take strict action wherever militants are involved in such actions,” he said further. (ANI)